Michele Pascarella, proprietor of London pizza restaurant Napoli on the Road, was not too long ago topped the perfect pizza maker on the planet.

Michele Pascarella

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Michele Pascarella

Michele Pascarella, proprietor of London pizza restaurant Napoli on the Road, was not too long ago topped the perfect pizza maker on the planet.

Michele Pascarella

A London-based pizza chef simply received Global Pizza Maker of the Year. And he is settled it: pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza.

Who is he? Michele Pascarella is the founding father of Napoli on the Road, a restaurant primarily based in London.

• Pascarella grew up in Caserta, a city close to the house of pizza: Naples, Italy. There, he began working in a pizzeria at 11 years previous. 

• In 2016, he began promoting woodfired pizzas throughout London out of the again of a tiny, three-wheeled truck. “12 years ago in the U.K., people didn’t really understand what’s behind pizza,” he advised NPR. So he took his operation on the highway to point out folks what goes into making actual Neapolitan pizza.

• He opened Napoli on the Road in 2019, and it is turn out to be a favourite within the world pizza awards circuit. He’s received quite a few awards, and is acknowledged as a pioneer in up to date pizza.

Napoli on the Road serves a menu of seasonally impressed pizzas.

Michele Pascarella

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Michele Pascarella

Napoli on the Road serves a menu of seasonally impressed pizzas.

Michele Pascarella

What’s the large deal?

• 50 Top Pizza not too long ago awarded Pascarella Global Pizza Maker of the Year. The 50 Top Pizza awards are “like the Michelin guide for pizza,” Pascarella advised The Chiswick Calendar.

• Pascarella’s signature pizza proper now could be topped with gradual cooked ragu and parmigiano reggiano cream, a callback to his childhood. Pascarella advised NPR he would get up to the scent of his household making ragu each weekend. His Sunday breakfast can be a chunk of bread dipped in ragu – stewed for a minimum of 12 hours – with parmigiano reggiano sprinkled on. 

• The pizza takes inspiration from these Sunday breakfasts, Pascarella advised The Independent: 

“I call it Ricordi D’infanzia, which translates to ‘childhood memories’ because it holds such strong nostalgia for me. But I still can’t make it like my mother does. When I go home to Caserta to see my family, I do try to wake up at 5am to make it with her. I’m less stressed about work when I’m there so I can usually do it, but when I’m back in London it’s hard to get up at that hour when you finish at midnight at the restaurant.”

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So what are his 5 tricks to making the perfect pizza on the planet?

1. Keep it contemporary. Pascarella’s restaurant rotates its menu all year long, utilizing no matter components are in season. “It’s very important, because when you use seasonal ingredients, you pay less money and they’re [better],” he advised NPR.
2. Keep it easy. Pascarella says the perfect pizzas solely have a couple of components. “When you do this kind of job, you learn to appreciate the simple ingredients,” he mentioned. “For good pizza chefs, good chefs, the best plate is the simple one.”
3. If you are making it at dwelling and do not have all of the tools a pizzeria has, put slightly extra water within the dough. “If you use 1 kg flour, it’s better to use 700g of water,” he mentioned. That’s a ratio of about two kilos to 3 cups of water, for the Americans within the room. 
4. Also, Pascarella says no fruit. “Pineapple I don’t really like on pizzas,” he mentioned. Sorry to all of the pineapple-on-pizza followers.
5. Lastly, continue to learn. “In this job, you never learn enough,” he mentioned. “Every day we can learn something.” Pascarella mentioned his objective is to maintain making new pizza day by day. 

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